Hi all. I’m new to the forum, but have been reading a lot here recently.
I received my new practice set a couple of weeks ago and have been very successful at scaring the dog half to death.
I do not have access to any kind of teacher or other players in my area. I’ve purchased the HJ Clarke book and cd which will be helpful as I go along, but I really need to get started on the right foot.
Generally I find my chanter to be on the sharp side of standard pitch. My pipemaker says the reed will flatten out after some time playing. I tried adding some waxed thread to the reed to move it up in the chanter but that didn’t really seem to make any difference so I removed it. Its not a vital issue to me right now, since I’m playing alone, but it would be nice to be closer to the above mentioned tutorial cd. They don’t quite sound right together.
That being said, I am having great difficulty with the second octave notes. The notes seem to be flat to me in comparison to the lower octave, especially the high G. If I really squeeze the bag I can get the pitch of the G to sound one octave higher before it drops back to the lower octave. Here I mean really squeeze. I can never hit the high E spot on without giving it an extra squeeze to bring it up to the octave. I know there is a lot of inexperience on my part so any tips anyone has to offer are more than welcome. I know practice is one of them. Should I stay away from the second octave for a while?
I am not quite sure about how much air I should have in the bag. Should it be bar tight ( I think not), tight, or have some slack in it? I think that I am squeezing harder than necessary, which seems to be common for newbies.
This looks like a great place to seek advice. I am glad that I found this forum. There seems to be a lot of knowledge here.
I am still very new to the pipes. In my short experience I can say the reed is the trick. Have someone who knows a thing or two look at it. Don’t fight it in frustration. It could be as simple as a slide of the bridle. But don’t tweak it too much yourself and make irreversible changes. Second octave shouldn’t be impossible to attain. The right reed n chanter and a bit of time. Of course a pint or two for patience never hurts. Good luck. Cheers.
To get the second octave shouldn’t take a great increase in bag pressure, just a little “bump” in pressure, so it sounds as if the reed may be too open.
But, if you open a reed, it plays flatter and takes more pressure, if you close it, the reed should play sharper and take less pressure.
To balance the octaves in pitch, you have to have the nerve to unbind and rebind the reed, so leave that to the future when the reed has been played in.
You need to have an experienced piper check it out in your playing environment to give the reed a good critique.
It seems as if nobody can make a satisfactory reed unless they make their own reeds.
I would love to be able to make my own reeds but I think that will be years down the lane. Having my hands full with the basics. But no doubt tis true the reed is an instrument of it’s own.
Thanks for the advice. Yes there may indeed be some air leaking somewhere via my fingers.
I’m in Newfoundland where it is a fairly humid environment being next to the ocean. I’ve experimented with moving the bridle a bit to see what that does although I am reluctant to do that much at this point.
I gather that a reed does take some time to ‘play in’. Does this make if softer, easier to play and flatten the sound?
Be extremely careful when removing or putting on the wind cap so that you don’t damage the reed lips. Try playing scales and ensure you are covering the finger holes properly, leaking air can cause problems. If there is an experienced piper within travelling distance then try to seek him/her out so they can assess your reed.
Is the reed easy to play in the first octave? It shouldn’t need a lot of pressure to sound. It also shouldn’t need a lot of pressure to get the second octave.
Ps A new reed will/should become settled in after it has been played a few weeks, depending on how often you play of course, better to play a little each day than once every few days if possible. Listen as much as possible to solo uilleann piping, again NPU’s Source is a goldmine
I had several bad reeds at the beginning that made playing almost impossible.
Since then I have started making my own and have made great progress.
I keep my chanter in a humidified case (sealed tube with a guitar humidifier inside).
A pet store hygrometer lets me maintain the environment.
This makes a big difference in the stability of the reed.
A new reed will change over time and playing it is better than trying to adjust it at the start.
If your by the ocean but have central heating/ air conditioning, you are most likely going to be too dry.
I’m now blessed with a wonderful reliable set, but my first practice set gave me fits. In the end another piper and a maker looked at it and told me the the reed was cracked AND the bag leaked. But for six months prior I about gave myself an embolism trying to get the second octave, which turned into a “too much bag pressure” habit I’m still trying to break.
So with that in mind I offer these thoughts (in addition to the sensible advice above, which is all good) …
Check all joints/connections – chanter to bag, and blowpipe to bag and bellows; heck, if your windcap’s loose put a bit of thread there, too. If there’s air escaping anywhere, life can be difficult.
Also, sometimes reeds leak a little at the sides if they’ve been through an environmental change; does your reed look like it’s sealed with a bit of cobbler’s wax or some such there?
Another thing to check is how well your reed staple is seated in the chanter. I wind one or two twists of thread lower down on the staple for “traction” and that seems to keep the staple solid and leak-free.
Finally, I’ve noticed that sometimes it just takes about 15 minutes of steady playing to settle the reed, so I tend to avoid adjustments until I’ve played a bit. My reed seems to have to open back up every time, especially if I haven’t played for a few days.
But yes, eventually, your reed should play in and soften a little. Then you’ll get drones and it’ll be too soft! Good luck!
As it has been said before, even my best, most perfect, favorite reed does not sound
“right” until it has been warmed up for 10 min. (20 if it has been transported to piping school at -27c)
In Highland Piping, you are supposed to put 2 shots of whiskey in the bag to prevent growth of bacteria and 4 shots in the piper to improve the quality of the sound.
Speaking of leaks and things … we had a session Saturday morning and had to travel through 1-degree F temps to get there. The room we played in was at least 70 degrees F, and as more people showed up and started breathing the humidity went from probably <15% to 40%. Anyway, the other piper there was having so much trouble he pulled his reed out and tossed it on the table. I loaned him my set (he’s a much better player than I am), so while they were playing I got curious, picked up the reed and tried to make it crow. Nada, bupkes, zip. Finally, I got a teeny-tiny high little squeak, so then I put my thumb and forefinger on the sides of the reed and tried again. Bingo. It crowed – softly, but in tune and fairly solidly. So we got out the beeswax, sealed up the sides, and got the set going again.
I heard Benedict Kohler give a talk on pipe maintenance in which he said that so very many problems are caused by simple leaks, and those should be the very first things you look for – especially if you have a set that went well originally. This was more support for his statement … he also said that every piper should plan to spend at least a little time every autumn adding hemp to all the joints (and then removing excess in the spring), because winter in most places will cause joints to shrink and leaks to spring.
Now if I could just get my tenor drone to straighten out … and I KNOW that’s the problem child in my case! (better that than the bag or drone switch, I guess)
Cathy, could you say how ‘new’ that chanter reed was? I mean of recent manufacture?
Or if it was one with carved tone chambers or was ‘bent’ onto the staple?
As to tenor drones, If you find any ‘magic dust’ let me know
I use a brass body with Arundo Donax tongues. Length measurements I got from Tim Britton’s “My Method” with further info from David Quinn’s “The Piper’s Despair”. For my bridle, I use o-rings that I found in the local hardware shop. Amazingly, only minor tweaking is needed to play either Concert pitch or C. I did put a tuning slide on the bass drone reed to try and shorten the drone length a bit as it can be awkward in tight places. It helped with stability more than changing the drone length, though.
I can quickly turn out several blades and have working reeds most of the time with two sets of bodies, tuned and ready to go if something gang aglay.
It seems as if a lot of pipers have tenor drone problems at the events I have attended. I have had more problems with the soprano drone squealing more than with my tenor. They are so small, it is hard to get them sanded properly.
Good luck!